User reviews

Well of course you are going to catch the theme of the movie to be inspired from the Hollywood flick - Phone booth. But the Phone booth was a unique movie though meaningless. The question arises in the viewers mind is, why would a sniper keep a person hostage in a phone booth without much of a meaningful conclusion. The biggest flaw in the original has been corrected in this movie. The sniper had a purpose behind holding him and it turns out to be patriotic at the end of the day.The movie has its share of shortcomings as well. For example the dialogues could have been more spot on. But, the screenplay is engrossing which keeps you on the hook and there fore is not a boring movie by any standards. It also shows the level of corruption in our country and how one man can make a difference to the whole system.

My Rating - 7/10.

do watch it at least once.

The remake of phone booth is actually great, the added some points to the original story and made it about india politics corruption and economics.

The case is well chosen Irfan and Dutt are good.

Good story / nice remake.

Overall 7 out of 10 Watched 17.6.2022.

If a film has to be judged only on the basis of noble intentions behind its making and its main aim of generating some awareness among the viewers (about their own money) then KNOCK OUT works in one way. But if the movie has to be judged as per its style of making, taking into account the various sources of its inspiration then KNOCK OUT is a complete waste of time, money, effort and creativity put in by one and all in the project.

In other words, to describe it as a movie, let's keep Joel Shumacher's PHONEBOOTH and our own Neeraj Pandey's A Wednesday together in a mixer and then mix it to have a new crispier and designer product to sell out in the market. That's what Mani Shanker's KNOCK OUT is in a nutshell. Taking its major inspiration of execution from PHONEBOOTH and then incorporating the national awareness theme adapted by a common man from A Wednesday, Mani Shanker comes up with his own project which unfortunately stands no-where close to any of its originals (if you have seen them both). In fact for the viewers who are well familiar with both of the above mentioned classics, KNOCK OUT remains a completely inspired and unwanted project which very childishly tries to take away the credit of the works done by the other filmmakers previously.

So for me, the moment I witnessed its clear unaccepted and unacknowledged link with PHONEBOOTH, the movie lost all its meaning and importance of being an Irfan Khan, Sanjay Dutt or Mani Shankar film. It was extremely shocking to see both Irfan & Sanjay doing the roles which are nothing but the copy of the work of others. This once again raises the same question that Are these well known actors so uninformed or unaware of the roles they are assigned to do by their directors? OR Are they only interested in the monetary rewards they are getting in return? With the body of work associated with both Imran Khan & Sanjay Dutt, there is no way that they may have not seen the hugely famous English film PHONEBOOTH and the Hit Hindi movie A Wednesday. Still they readily agreed to do exactly similar roles as seen in these two films is indeed questionable.

As far as the movie is concerned, Mani Shanker continues to show his fascination with Electronic Gadgets, Computers and Passwords as earlier used in his 16 December. His intention of making the people of India aware of the amount of money deposited by the Indian Politicians in Swiss Banks is appreciable. But his choice of executing the same by the means of copying is not acceptable. The film is simply PHONEBOOTH made in Hindi before intermission which starts moving towards becoming A Wednesday in its second half. Performances too in the movie have nothing much to write about as they have all just performed like a routine job including the versatile Irfan Khan.

And with a court verdict coming in the news today about the original makers of PHONEBOOTH wining the case against KNOCK OUT, there is nothing more to say about this latest example of Bollywood copying from the West.

Ratings : No Rating as its simply a rip-off.

Knockout directed by Mani Shankar is absolute bore.

The movie is a combination of two hits one of Hollywood(Phone Booth) and one of Bollywood(A Wednesday).

The screenplay is penned badly.

The climax is comical.

Figure this- Irfan asks revenue officers for their bank account numbers so that he can transfer money from corrupt politicians' Swiss bank accounts to the revenue department. Can this even be done?

Sanjay claims that the amount of Rs 70,000 million belongs to India, and should be here, not in the Swiss banks. Is this Mani Shankar's way of telling Indians how to get back their money? By holding someone hostage, and killing men on the streets?

Performances-After Knockout,Irrfan proves that he's also a bad actor.Sanjay Dutt is plain.Kangana Ranaut needs to improve her diction.Its horrible.Gulshan Grover hams.Sushant Singh is okay.

On the whole Knockout is a complete washout!

there are hundreds of movies that were copied and now as quoted inspired from Hollywood movies in Bollywood. Even the Indian audiences recognize right after watching trailer of such movies. But the trend doesn't end. It gets better. Knock Out is an example of that. Movie starts with a corruption money being transferred to a Swiss Account. Then leads to character name Bachchu played by Irafan Khan who gets to a phone booth and makes a call. Right after he hung up the phone, he receives a call. There the story begins. A story about a shooter (Sanjay Dutt) who has Bachchu on gun point and ask him to do things that Bachchu would have never imagined. the story remains excited till the ending. I wouldn't say it was the best movie I have ever seen. but was worth watching once and enjoy. Sanjay Dutt and Irrfan Khan's chemistry works. They both done well as you expect from experienced actors. Kangana Ranaut is natural. Gulshan Grover gets few good lines other than that doesn't get much scope. Is short watch it once, it wont spoil your time.

(1/2)Sanjay Dutt being a wonderful actor could have done much better.But it appeared like he is still in the hangover of Billa Of Musafir.Irrfan was a treat.Good to see Gulshan after a long time.

(1/2)Story of Knock Out is a take on corruption.But lot of potholes.The identity of Sanjay Dutt is hilarious.The money transaction scenes are equally dumb.

(0/2)Direction is forgettable."A Wednesday" with similar plot was wonderfully executed.

(0/2)Music is unmentionable.One can only remember Irrfan's dance number outside booth.It was the only time when people do enjoyed the movie.

(1/2)About the X-FACTOR.Watching 2 veterans (Sanjay and Irrfan) is a delight though the direction ruined the movie.

After a long time it was good to watch a thriller with a blend of patriotism. Though it was a copy of Hollywood flick 'Phone Booth' but copy also calls for wisdom and here Mani Shankar succeeded in adding another feather in his cap. Portrayed true Indian picture where everything is remote controlled. It bounds till the end. Irfan Khan did a great job. Sanjay Dutt was good but sometimes his dialogue delivery looks monotonous. Sushant Singh and Gulshan Grover were good (as usual) and Kangna Ranaut was OK. Cameo played by Apoorva Lakhia was a fair effort.The action sequences were totally filmy(away from reality) because in real Indian scenario everything would have gone politician's way. Humor created by the satire was good. All in all a good presentation with all necessary ingredients. Must watch for every honest Indian.

I went to see this movie frankly because i was totally free and my friend insisted me to, I beforehand knew that this was a straight lift from the holly movie Phonebooth starring collin Ferrell and i wasn't to keen to watch this anyway 10 minutes into the movie i got proved right that it was a straight lift indeed but i was pleasantly surprised !! 'cause the movie was really gripping and i forgot about all the copying stuff and got engrossed completely , For those who have not seen phone booth they will like this even more, irrfan who is a black marketeer gets into a public telephone booth to do some usual business and gets captivated into the booth by sanjay dutt who calls him on the public phone and tells him that he has a sniper pointed on irrfan from a nearby building and then asks him to do stuff which exposes a corrupt politician ultimately , i wont reveal who sanjay is and why he holds irrfan captive 'cause thats for the viewer to find out and the reason is very compelling, valid and relevant to our country's biggest problem i.e black money , In Phonebooth the captivator was a psycho but its not the case here sanjay's character is of a very sane and intelligent tech savy person ,The movie also features a fight sequence involving sanjay which looks a straight lift from 'the bourne ultimatum' but none the less its pretty well done as well, the movie also has some laughs provided by irrfan but it doesn't loose its focus on the main theme ,what i didn't like though about the movie was that the makers blatantly denied on TV interviews that the movie wasn't a copy of phone booth but those were just blatant denial's. Barring that i liked the movie a lot , hats off to sanjay dutt, irrfan khan and mani shankar for making a focused , entertaining , no - nonsense movie 8/10

This is one AWESOME film. There is a whole lot of hue and cry that it is a straight lift from Phonebooth. Well, you can judge for yourselves. Phone booth is a movie about this loose character guy who cheats on his wife and gets trapped in a phone booth (while making a call to his girlfriend)by a sniper in a high-rise building who insists that either he confesses his cheating or gets himself/his wife/his girl friend killed. Knock out's similarity lies in that it is also a movie with a guy held up in a phone booth by a sniper, but the reason is political- regarding Indian politicians hoarding the tax payers money in swiss bank. Unlike Phone booth, Knock Out has a solid motive going for the sniper. It has Sanjay Dutt and Irrfan to do the title roles which they do with so much intensity and screen presence that you'll forget everything else. It is also more funny and colourful, what with Irrfan forced to dance to "Zara zara touch me touch me touch me". O God! I was in splits after that and had to re watch it several times. The pace of the film is tense and the drama convincingly gritty. The comedy is real good comedy and not the Hindi film staple of Johny Leverish headache inducing hamming. The action sequences are good. Kangana, Satish, Gulshan Grover are apt in their roles. Gulshan is especially good as the corrupt politician and never overplays it. This has to be one of Sanjay Dutt's and Irrfan's great movies. Kudos to the director for making a movie on a much needed topic with such aplomb. And-it is a whole deal better than Phone booth!

The name as such does not suggest anything so one snowing night I got this movie and started watching as I had nothing much to do. The first five minutes got me and my husband(who does not like Hindi movies easily).. glued.. and 2.5 hrs later we were still glued. It is a must watch and the screenplay is awesome. I would not like to give out the story here as it will kill the suspense, but the movie is about the money that our worthless ministers hoard at Swiss banks... No waste of time and the character build up great. Good movie.

Irffan has outdone himself, and Sanjay Dutt looks and acts good. Kangana is OK... Sushant acts well.

All in all I loved it.

Great acting by everyone. Interesting plot and a higly refreshing entertainment piece everytime I watch it. I am really surprised to see why it's rating is only 6, after 10 years of it's release.

This is one of the best thriller movies ever made in India.

I started watching this movie as I randomly found it on YouTube and never have I ever been so amazed. This movie is a perfect example of shooting a movie in such a small location and doing fabulous work with it. The intelligence of the movie is so good that we find ourselves motivated and proud.

In "Knock-Out," Silvio Simac proves again that he is a global actor who is indispensable for the best action scenes in movies today. In this riveting thriller from India, Simac's contribution is far too brief, but his climatic fight with the film's lead proves to be a nail-biting highlight. Simac plays the aggressive leader of a tactical team deployed to eliminate a rooftop shooter. The charismatic actor infuses the scene with tension and talents to elevate it far above the usual concluding battle between good and evil. Simac's precision and dramatic skills have distinguished other films such as "DOA" and "Transporter 3." From atop the peak of a skyscraper in a dizzying fight scene, Simac also makes "Knock Out" another movie that soars! My 10 star rating for the film is the result of Simac's dynamic performance.